Medical Malpractice Lawsuits
Attorneys have a fiduciary connection with their clients and are expected to conduct themselves with diligence, care and expertise. Attorneys make mistakes, just like any other professional.
Not all mistakes made by attorneys are considered to be malpractice. To prove that legal malpractice law firms has occurred, the aggrieved party has to prove that there was breach of duty, causation, breach and damage. Let’s look at each one of these aspects.
Duty-Free
Medical professionals and doctors swear by their training and experience to treat patients and not cause further harm. The duty of care is the foundation for the right of a patient to be compensated if they are injured by medical negligence. Your attorney will determine if the actions of your doctor breached the duty of medical care and whether these violations caused injury or illness.
To prove a duty of care, your lawyer has to establish that a medical professional had a legal relationship with you that owed you a fiduciary responsibility to exercise a reasonable level of skill and care. This can be demonstrated through eyewitness testimony, doctor-patient reports and expert testimony from doctors with similar education, experience, and training.
Your lawyer must also demonstrate that the medical professional breached their duty of care by not adhering to the standards of practice that are accepted in their field. This is often referred to as negligence, and your attorney will evaluate the defendant’s conduct with what a reasonable person would do in the same circumstance.
Then, your lawyer has to show that the defendant’s breach of duty directly caused injury or loss to you. This is known as causation. Your attorney will rely on evidence such as your medical documents, witness statements, and expert testimony to prove that the defendant’s inability to uphold the standards of care in your case was the direct cause of your loss or injury.
Breach
A doctor is bound by a duty of care to his patients that reflects professional medical standards. If a doctor fails to meet these standards, and the failure results in an injury, then medical malpractice lawyers or negligence could result. Typically the testimony of medical professionals with similar qualifications, training or certifications will aid in determining what the best standard of care should be in a particular case. State and federal laws as well as institute policies can also be used to define what doctors must provide for specific kinds of patients.
To prevail in a malpractice lawsuit it must be proved that the doctor violated his or her duty to take care of patients and that the breach was the primary cause of an injury. In legal terms, this is called the causation component, and it is vital that it is established. If a physician has to take an x-ray of a broken arm, they have to put the arm in a cast and then correctly set it. If the doctor failed to do so and the patient was left with an unavoidable loss of use of that arm, then malpractice may have occurred.
Causation
Attorney malpractice claims are based on the evidence that the attorney committed mistakes that led to financial losses for the client. For example the lawyer does not file an action within the timeframe of limitations, which results in the case being lost for ever, the injured party could bring legal malpractice lawsuits.
However, it’s important to realize that not all mistakes made by attorneys are mistakes that constitute malpractice. Strategies and planning errors do not usually constitute misconduct. Attorneys have a broad range of discretion in making decisions as long as they’re in the right place.
Additionally, the law grants attorneys a wide range of options to refuse to conduct a discovery process on the behalf of their clients, as long as it was not negligent or unreasonable. Failing to discover important facts or documents like medical reports or witness statements or medical reports, could be an instance of legal malpractice. Other instances of malpractice include the failure to include certain defendants or claims, such as the mistake of not remembering a survival number for wrongful death cases, or the repeated failure to communicate with clients.
It is also important to note the necessity for the plaintiff to prove that if not due to the lawyer’s negligent behavior, they could have won their case. If not, the plaintiff’s claims for malpractice will be rejected. This makes the process of bringing legal malpractice lawsuits difficult. It is essential to choose an experienced attorney.
Damages
To win a legal malpractice lawsuit, plaintiffs must show financial losses that result from an attorney’s actions. This must be shown in a lawsuit through evidence such as expert testimony, correspondence between client and attorney, billing records and malpractice lawsuits other evidence. In addition the plaintiff has to prove that a reasonable lawyer would have avoided the harm caused by the negligence of the attorney. This is referred to as proximate causation.
The act of malpractice can be triggered in a variety of different ways. Some of the most common types of malpractice include failing to meet a deadline, for example, a statute of limitations, failure to conduct a conflict check or other due diligence check on a case, improperly applying the law to the client’s situation or breaking a fiduciary duty (i.e. the commingling of trust account funds with an attorney’s personal accounts), mishandling of an instance, and not communicating with the client.
Medical malpractice lawsuits typically involve claims for compensatory damages. These damages compensate the victim for the cost of out-of-pocket expenses and losses such as medical and hospitals bills, equipment costs to aid in recovery, and lost wages. Victims are also able to claim non-economic damages, such as discomfort and pain or loss of enjoyment in their lives, and emotional stress.
Legal malpractice cases typically involve claims for compensatory or punitive damages. The former compensates the victim for losses due to the negligence of the attorney and the latter is intended to discourage any future malpractice on the defendant’s part.